Homesick Arshavin: Gazza is my No.1

Homesick Arsenal playmaker Andrei Arshavin says his favourite English player of all time is... Paul Gascoigne.

Published

9 March 2009

The Russian has made four appearances for the Gunners since making his much-publicised £15 million move from Zenit St Petersburg at the end of the winter transfer window, but has admitted he is already missing his home comforts in eastern Europe.

"I miss St Petersburg," he told the Russian press. "I wish I could take to England the whole of my home city, where I know every little side-street, every set of traffic lights. "In St Petersburg I had numerous privileges in my day-to-day life."

The diminutive attacker also revealed his favourite English footballer of all time, naming Paul Gascoigne, formely of the Gunners' arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur, as his role model. "I liked Paul Gascoigne a lot," he said. "He was an extraordinary person both on and outside the pitch. He always remained his own self which in my opinion is of utmost importance in every man's life."